Short story writer Linda Lewis (aka Catherine Howard) earns a living writing mainly short stories for magazines including The People’s Friend. She gives talks, runs workshops, teaches at summer schools and works as a tutor for the Writers Bureau.
See www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com for more details.

Thursday, 27 September 2012

I met
somebody when I was out at crossword class. She asked me how I was doing. When
I told her that despite everything going well, I felt more miserable than I had
in ages. She said it sounded as though the grieving process had caught up with
me.

I wonder if
she’s right. In a way, I hope she is because that means, given time, I’ll start
to feel better.

Joanna from
the Writers Circle sent me an email saying she’s hoping to get to the next
meeting (Monday, 1st October) so I’m going to try and make the effortto get there too. Ithink I’ve only been once this entire year so
far. It will be good to catch up plus it will get me out of the house and stop
me playing computer games for hours and hours on end.

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

A number of people have been trying to put
me off the house I want to buy round the corner. There are no perfect
properties, but as soon as somebody starts to say negative things, the doubts
start to creep in. I’ve been told that youths drink and throw bottles about behind
the off license which is on the main road and the car park for which the house
backs on to. As I’ll be on my own, I obviously don’t want any trouble, but is
this a real problem or not? I’ve also been told about smells from a takeaway. If
either problem is bad, the vendors are hardly likely to tell me.

What do I do now? Go and hang about behind the
off–license and see for myself? I guess
I’ll have to. What larks!

I went to the singing group again today, despite
the driving rain. There are only 2 more practises before we’re meant to
perform, so goodness how that’s going to work. Fingers crossed I suppose

Monday, 24 September 2012

Otherwise, it’s just been computer games over and over. I ALMOST
reached the point earlier when I wanted to throw the machine in the bin so with
any luck, this energy sapping period is on its way out.

Tomorrow morning, I’m having the house
valued and maybe put on the market. I’m also viewing a bungalow just to see
what they’re like inside. It’s on an estate that seems to tick a lot of boxes
so I might as well be nosey.

Right now, I could really use a tame builder
to go and look at the house I’m hoping to buy. Having a proper survey done is
very expensive and in the past I’ve always found them unsatisfactory. Any possible
problems and they’ve always said, have further investigations made. If anyone in
the Leeds area knows anyone who would be able to go to the house and check out
the structural side – roof, loft space, electrics, walls, etc, do, please get
in touch.

All I want to know is if there’s anything
major I should know about. I'm obviously willing to pay.

Sunday, 23 September 2012

I’ve just finished wallpapering the
kitchen, a job I started a year ago. It looks so much better now it’s done, so
much brighter. It’s a shame it’s taken planning to move to get me motivated!

I actually enjoy hanging paper (not so keen
on the stripping and preparation though). It’s a wonderful way to transform a
roomand doesn’t take that long to do
either.

The house is starting to look better. I’m
keen to find out what the estate agent has to say on Tuesday. I’ve asked the Exeter agent to
call the man buying Mum’s house to see if he’s had the go ahead for the loan he
wanted.

Thanks for the message, Jacula. Eminently
sensible and insightful as always. Fingers crossed the calm seas stay and that
I start to not only cope with, but also enjoy them.

Saturday, 22 September 2012

I had a lovely day with Val in Scarborough yesterday. She has
so much talent, it’s a shame to see her not using it. She can paint, sculpt,
all kinds of things.

I had such a good time, and there was such
a lot to see (lots of charity shops too) I decided to book a weekend there with
National Holidays in October. The wind off the sea was a bit sharp though, but
the rain stayed away which was all anyone can really ask for at this time of
year. I challenged Val to enter the themed competitions in Writers News as they’re
free. The plan is I write a story and send it to her for feedback and she does
the same. I’m hoping that will be the prod I need to get me started on stories
again. It’s worth a try.

Today I’ve been sprucing up the house a bit
ready for Tuesday when the estate agent comes to give me a valuation. Before
then I need to finish wallpapering the kitchen. It’s all stripped, filled and
ready, all I need is a large dose of enthusiasm and energy.

I still don’t feel right in my head. I don’t
think it’s depression, I just feel a bit flat and don’t want to do anything,
not even watch TV or listen to music. It’s so great that things are going well,
I guess it takes some getting used to.

Thursday, 20 September 2012

Now that things are going well, it’s rather
caught me on the hop. It’s been too many years since life was this calm and it’s
taking some getting used to. I still don’t really know what I want to do other
than take life a bit easier for a while.

I also needed to decide what to do about
various people who, to quote the old saying, had ‘done me wrong’. Today I wrote
to the solicitor who handled Mum’s affairs and asked for compensation and reimbursement
of the fees I paid to him. I have no idea what they’ll do but I didn’t feel
able to just let them get away with everything.

I’m not doing much at the moment other than
things I have to do – my column, Writers Bureau scripts, people wanting
feedback, sending out the odd rewritten story. Tomorrow I’m going to Scarborough to see Val. I’ve
been meaning to for months but never managed to get round to it. I’m also
toying with the idea of taking a three day break there in October, the idea being
that if I take a pad and some starting points for stories, I might just be able
to get back to work. I know once I start, I’ll be fine. It’s that first step
that’s the scary one.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

I had plans to write up several posts and catch up with everything, but you know what they say about plans? Word has just decided to thorw a wobbly on my PC and I can't raise the enthusiasm to go back into it so will be brief instead.
I went back to the Tuesday singing group today. I used to go fairly often but fell out of the habit more than a year ago when I was down. They've moved and the new venue is a 20 minute walk from the station but I had a really good time and will try to make the effort again next week, specially as I've decide to put Heydays on hold for this term at least. The rest of today has been spent on marking assignments for the Writers Bureau. I still haven't got to grips with the email ones yet so it takes me an age to each one but so long as I enjoy doing it, that's fine.
My head is starting to get to grips with this new, relaxed style of life. I'm still not sure what I want to do, but have decided to just go with the flow for a while and see what happens.

Saturday, 15 September 2012

Top of the list, subject to contract, I’ve sold
the house in Exeter and hope to have the sale completed before the end of October. I’ve
also bought a house, again subject to contract, just round the corner from
where I am now. The garden is much much smallerwhich I need at the moment, and it has the right layout – kitchen big
enough to eat in, doors between living and dining room so that I can open up
the space (or not), and a lovely airy main bedroom which will be my
office/music/art/chill room. My offer was accepted on Friday which just
happened to be the 15th anniversary of Gareth’s death. I found that
strangely comforting.

I’ve been busy in the garden today. BEFORE
I knew I was moving, I bought, literally, hundreds of bulbs – narcissi, tulips,
iris etc. They need planting but obviously I’d like to take them with me, so, I’ve
been replanting all my pots and putting the bulbs into those./ It’s taken me
hours. Now I have to go round the garden, digging up just a few plants to take
with me. I’m particularly fond of hebes, grasses and hostas so want to take a
few of those, and the odd lavender bush if possible.

The result of all this frenetic activity is
that I’m way behind with everything else. Of course there’s more to do. The kitchen
that I started decorating before Mum died needs finishing, the whole garden
needs a major tidy, so does the house in
general, then I can put it up for sale. The idea is to sell Exeter asap and follow
that more or less immediately with buying the house. Then I’d like a month’s
gap before the sale of this house goes through so I can move slowly. Anyway,
that’s the plan.

Now to think about food followed by the
return of Strictly. Yes, I’m an addict and proud of it too.

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Things are going well right now – the house in Devon has been cleared, it’s on
the market and people are making offers, yet I feel terrible.

It’s as though I don’t know how to cope when
there isn’t some major problem looming over me. I just can’t seem to make
myself get on with anything. Instead, I’m just wasting time. I hope this is
just a passing phase.

Monday, 10 September 2012

On 31st August, I went to Nottingham for the NAWG Festival
of Writing where I was teaching a short story course. I had an excellent time,
mainly down to the wonderful people I met there. I’d name some of them but that
would mean leaving others out!

As always, the organisation was a bit
shambolic, but everything worked in its own, wonky kind of way. I’d just like
to say to all those lovely people I met, PLEASE do keep in touch. I was very
bad about collecting cards and taking phone numbers because my head was already
in Exeter!

I came home from Nottingham late on Sunday
afternoon (September 2nd) and
spent a chaotic few hours rushing about finishing packing for my trip down to Devon. My mother died in March,
leaving me her house. There was a big complicationin the shape of her carer who was still living
there. This is a very long story, so I’m not going to tell it here, suffice to
say that having found out certain things through doing probate, I gave him a
choice, leave or face the consequences.

He moved out on the 24th August.
If it hadn’t been for NAWG I would have gone down the next day. As it was, I
had to wait until September 3rd. When I got there, the house was in
a right old state. Filthy just about covers it. The garden was also in a mess, overgrown
and full of weeds. I also discovered that quite a few things were missing,
including the three piece suite and other furniture.

I set about putting the house to rights. I’d
been concerned that staying there might have been upsetting. I have few happy
memories of the house and wondered if I’d have trouble sleeping there but it
was fine. In fact as I cleaned and scrubbed and tidied, I found myself starting
to like the house and wishing it was in Leeds so that I could live there!Without the clutter and the angry vibes, its sunny, spacious, light, side began to
show.

John, my ex, took me down in his car. I had him going back and forth to
the skip with car loads of rubbish probably a dozen times.

Once most of the furniture was cleared, I
could see the potential of the place. Of course, that made me sad as I hadn’t
been able to do anything to improve things while Mum was alive. Once Denis came
along, I was elbowed out. I let that happen as I thought it was best for Mum. I
know better now.

While I was there, I spent a pleasant evening
with some friends (they used to be my neighbours when I lived in Exeter) which was
great. I also took a morning off to tour the shops, and had a few hours in Exmouth
so that I at least got to see the sea!

The estate agent came round on the Tuesday
to measure up (he took the photos after I’d had the furniture cleared) and the
first viewers started to come along. I took a liking to family with 3 small
children. They made such a noise exploring, it was lovely to see. It would be
nice to sell to a family and think of the house being a happy home again.

I left on Sunday, coming home by train.
John is still there, visiting friends and family.

By the time I got to Leeds, I was so tired, I couldn’t
do very much at all except unpack, check some emails, then go to bed (8 p.m.!).

I’m still feeling tired today. It feels as
though my feet have hardly touched the ground since before Swanwick.

I’ve been off line since 30th August.
Straight after the NAWG Festival, I went down to Exeter to clear,
clean, and put Mum’s house on the market. The trip went far better than hoped.
I was worried that I’d find it hard, staying in the house, but as it turned
out, it was fine. The weather was perfect, dry and warm so I was able to do
lots of work in the garden. It’s amazing what a difference a tidy weed free
garden makes. The house felt light and welcoming and the longer I stayed there,
the more I realised what a nice house it actually is! If it was in Leeds, I’d live there myself
and no, I don’t want to move back to Devon. .

I’ve already had an offer from an
interested buyer. I would have accepted it but the estate agent has told me to
give it a few more days first.

I arrived home yesterday evening, feeling exhausted.

It’s going to take me quite a while to get
back up to speed but I think I’m getting there, slowly. Thanks again to
everyone who’s been so kind to me recently. Your support has meant a great deal
to me.

I’ve missed a lot of friends’ birthdays and
other news while I’ve been away and hope you will, please, forgive me. I also
have a mountain of emails to climb!

About Me

I write for a living, have done since 2003. I have lost count of how many stories I have sold to women's magazines, but it's at least six hundred.
My main markets are Woman's Weekly Take a Break's Fiction Feast and the People's Friend. I also give talks, run workshops and teach. My first book for writers was published in 2012 and is called THE WRITER'S TREASURY OF IDEAS. I have also published several books designed to help writers to improve their craft and find ideas.
At the moment, I live in Leeds.
I'm divorced and even though I'm in my (early) sixties, I still believe that one day, I will find true love.
Cue the violins!